A settlement reached yesterday in Superior Court will allow the Trojans to continue in the playoffs despite earlier decisions to the contrary by the Metro Conference and the San Diego Section.

Reached yesterday on campus, Castle Park coach Paul Van Nostrand said his team was looking forward to its Division II quarterfinal game against El Cajon Valley on Friday.

"We're ready to go, we're ready to put this behind us and we're ready to play football," Van Nostrand said.

As he left the courtroom, section Commissioner Dennis Ackerman said he was disappointed with the result.

"It's sending the wrong message," Ackerman said.

Later, the section released a statement that stated the court ruling "does not honor all of the other 144,000 athletes and 111 member schools that play by the rules, accept the consequences of their choices and understand the true value of educational high school athletics."

Under terms of the settlement, Castle Park (9-2) will retain its South Bay League title.

"I'm just really happy for the kids," said Dr. Charles Camarata, Castle Park's team doctor, who was on hand for yesterday's hearing. "From the very beginning, I honestly thought in my heart that the team and the school had done nothing wrong. I felt if it got in front of an individual who could look at this objectively, that would be what the finding was."

Early last week, the Metro Conference ruled Castle Park had to forfeit six games for using a player who became ineligible after transferring from Castle Park to Sweetwater, then back to Castle Park. The conference discovered that Sweetwater had mishandled the paperwork but still found Castle Park at fault for not uncovering the ineligibility.

On Friday, the San Diego Section upheld the ruling, which meant the Trojans were out of the playoffs, since any football team with three or more forfeits is not allowed to participate in the postseason.

Hours later, a ruling by Judge Frederic L. Link overturned both decisions, allowing Castle Park to play a first-round game in which the Trojans beat Montgomery 48-14.

The ineligible athlete, who has sat out the past three games, will not play in any future games. It is the policy of the Union-Tribune not to use the names of ineligible high school players.

After the settlement was reached, Link emphasized the importance of eligibility rules.

"(The section) spends a lot of time making sure these rules are fair," Link said. However, Link continued, "Once in a while, a situation occurs where rules can be a little bit too onerous on these students."

The judge said the resolution was not meant to set a precedent.

"This court feels that this is the proper resolvement of the problems in this case only," Link said. "I want to emphasize that." Nicole Vargas: (619) 293-1390; nicole.vargas@uniontrib.com